Page 58 - EducationWorld Oct 2021

International News

projects and junior academics work at the behest of senior
academics. Gruss cites an assistant professor hired away
from the University of Tokyo by OIST as an example. When
he asked why she would give up a good job at a legacy in-
stitution, she replied that she was not treated much better
than a postdoc.
“Young researchers in the Japanese university system
cannot do independent research. They are there to support
full professors” he says, adding that most Nobel laureates
did their most pioneering work before age 40. “There is a
dire need to reform Japanese research universities by al-
lowing young people to do the research they want, as early
on as possible.”
OIST accepts fewer than 100 doctoral candidates a year,
with the largest foreign cohorts coming from India, main- Wheelahan and Moodie: precarious work certification
land China, Russia, the UK and Taiwan. All receive full
funding for five years. to the fervour for massive open online courses in 2012 and
for online education during the 1990s dot-com bubble. All
CANADA three “crazes” had been touted on similar grounds: they
Scathing micro-degrees criticism made learning more accessible, affordable and democratic
and institutions more flexible, relevant and innovative. “But
MICRO-DEGREES ARE “GIG CREDENTIALS for all three hypes have been deeply embedded in economic
the gig economy,” exacerbating the tenuous exis- interests which degrade the educational value of higher
tence of struggling workers and turning universi- education,” he says.
ties into job coaching services that save companies money People do not master automotive engineering by obtain-
on in-house training, according to two academics. ing driver’s licences, argues Moodie. “Microcredentials…
Leesa Wheelahan and Gavin Moodie have delivered a are misguided (if) they seek to displace rather than comple-
scathing assessment of an educational trend sweeping the ment substantial qualifications. And they are distracting
world. These University of Toronto researchers say micro- and potentially damaging if their promotion undermines
credentials are fractured qualifications that abet the frac- the structures and processes needed to support substantive
turing of formal employment through casualisation, Uber qualifications,” he contends.
and food delivery apps.
Writing in the journal Higher Education, they say mi- AFGHANISTAN
crocredentials reframe universities as “an instrument of Ominous portents
microeconomic change” to serve market needs. “Their po-
tential to underpin contingent, precarious work is great- EDUCATION ACTIVISTS AND LEADERS ARE
est for those who are the most disadvantaged,” they write. desperately trying to rescue Afghan scholars —
“Those without the access to elite occupations provided by particularly girls and women — from the Taliban,
elite universities must take on more risk to ‘second-guess’ while experts warn that the country could lose the gains it
the requirements of the labour market so that they have has made in education, hard won over the past 20 years.
the ‘right’ skills needed at the right time for the right job.” Almost immediately after the Taliban’s takeover of the
The paper says that microcredentials are being embraced country following the withdrawal of US forces on August 31,
in parts of North America, Africa and Australasia, where Afghan women reported they are being turned away from
New Zealand has incorporated them into its qualifications campuses and are burning university ID cards and degree
framework. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation certificates for fear of retribution.
and Development, European Commission and Unesco are Although Taliban leaders say that women will be able to
all developing recognition frameworks for microcredentials. access education, there’s the caveat that it has to be under
But the paper says many of the bite-sized courses’ sup- “the framework of our Islamic laws”. Afghanistan experts
posed spinoffs — social inclusion, student-centred learning are sceptical about prospects of the country’s education re-
and “self-realisation” for learners — are not supported by forms being sustained.
evidence. The limited data on their employment outcomes Comments Robert Crews, editor-in-chief of the journal
suggest that the benefits “are certainly lower than for sub- Afghanistan and a history professor at Stanford University:
stantial credentials”, often failing to lift graduates out of “Afghan universities are in grave danger. As in the recent
poverty. and more distant past, the Taliban will target professors,
Dr. Moodie likens the enthusiasm for microcredentials many of whom are already in hiding,” he says. “They will

58 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2021